Many industries use hazardous materials, making it essential to protect both the operator and the working environment during the filtration process. In other sectors, such as paints and coatings (surface treatment), it is cross-contamination between different products that must be absolutely avoided. Implementing filtration systems in these production lines therefore represents a real challenge. The difficulties mainly arise during maintenance operations or when changing one filter for another depending on the product to be filtered. What filtration solutions can be deployed to overcome these issues?
A clever filtration solution
In response to this industrial need, manufacturers have developed a system enclosing conventional filter cartridges inside two sealed plastic bags (antistatic polyethylene). Polyethylene withstands temperatures up to 70 °C and a maximum differential pressure of 1.5 bar.
These filter cartridges are then placed in a standard way inside a stainless-steel housing. Particular attention must be paid to ensuring the airtightness of the filter bags inside the housing. Preliminary tests must in particular guarantee that the plastic bags enclosing the filters and products will remain in place even when filled with liquid.
These systems, which can be custom-made, allow the use of a wide range of filter cartridges of different sizes and in many absolute grades:
- nylon-media cartridge filters, offering controlled performance to minimize fiber release
- absolute-rated depth cartridge filters, providing high retention capacity and very low pressure drop
- cartridge filters manufactured with a true density gradient, offering a large void volume, low pressure drop, and excellent retention capacity
Expert advice
Using a 316L stainless-steel housing provides enhanced safety and allows the filtration system to be operated under high pressures and across wide temperature ranges.
Advantages of the filtration solution
Implementing this type of pre-assembled filtration system ensures:
- cost reduction: filter replacement is simple and fast. The system can be lifted out of the stainless-steel housing and swapped immediately,
- optimal operator and workstation protection: confinement of both the filter and the filtered product is complete. Filter replacement can therefore be performed with minimal risk to the operator or the surrounding environment,
- elimination of cleaning: the plastic bags surrounding the system prevent the filtered product from coming into contact with the filter housing, removing the need for any cleaning. This is particularly valuable in multi-product operations (paints, inks, varnishes), where conventional filtration systems require solvents to clean the filter body,
- filter reuse: the bags surrounding the filter cartridges can also serve as containers for storing filters when they can be reused. This is typically the case in units producing multiple ink colors in small batches on an occasional basis. Filters contaminated by one color cannot be used for others, but the assembly can be labeled and stored for later reuse.
Typical applications
These systems, which enable clean, safe, and environmentally friendly filtration, can be particularly effective in the following applications:
- paint systems in automotive production
- paint and varnish equipment
- ink and paint manufacturing
- solvent production
- chemical production
- multipurpose installations and filling lines
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